Used only in Galatians 4:24, where the apostle refers to the history of Isaac the free-born, and Ishmael the slave-born, and makes use of it allegorically.

Every parable is an allegory. Nathan (2 Samuel 12:1-4) addresses David in an allegorical narrative. In the eightieth Psalm there is a beautiful allegory: "Thou broughtest a vine out of Egypt," etc. In Ecclesiastes 12:2-6, there is a striking allegorical description of old age.

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) A figurative discourse, in which the principal subject is described by another subject; a parable. The real subject is thus kept out of view, and we are left to collect the intentions of the writer or speaker by the resemblance of the secondary to the primary subject.

2. (n.) Anything which represents by suggestive resemblance; an emblem.

3. (n.) A figure representation which has a meaning beyond notion directly conveyed by the object painted or sculptured.